Today's Quote

Death is Nature's expert advice to get plenty of Life.

- Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Day Three

Woke up in Wales, in a small town near Cardigan.

We had breakfast at the Cliff Hotel (where we spent the night) in Gwbert  before beginning our day of driving the countryside. 

I LOVE the Traditional English Breakfast!  It consists of 2 over-medium eggs, "grilled" tomatoes and mushrooms, bangers (sausage, but doesn't really taste like our breakfast sausage, and it's *bigger*), beans (basically like Pork-n-Beans but without the pork), "bacon"  (looks just like country ham, but tastes a little like bacon), and toast.  LOVE! 

Traditional English Breakfast (minus the beans)

The Wales countryside. 

You can barely see the windmills in the background on the top of the hills. 

There were lots  of windmills on hilltops in Wales.  Generating electricity.  Yay!

After breakfast, we packed up and drove south (mostly along the west coast) to a small town callled Carmarthen, Wales.  We were going there to meet up with K (another friend from the Wine Room on a semester study-abroad). 

She walked us to the castle in the heart of Carmarthen, and then we walked to a nice little fish-n-chips place for lunch.

It was wonderful to see her again! 

The Castle in Carmarthen, Wales.

The Y Gegin Cafe, famous for excellent fish-n-chips.

After lunch and a nice visit with K and her friend, we drove on, heading east toward England and out of Wales.

The bridge over the Severn River

"Welcome to England"

and in Welsh at the bottom

Since W is a golfer (it's almost like a religion for some!), we absolutely HAD to stop  at the Celtic Manor where the Ryder Cup was played just a month or so ago...

This was solely for W

It didn't really mean much to me, but it was a GORGEOUS place!

Next we "landed" in Bath.  It's the most beautiful city!  And it's a very old city, so there was a lot of history there.  Oh heck! Who am i kidding?!  All of England is old with LOADS of history EVERYWHERE!  I loved it!  And the architecture!

We stayed in an old B&B called the Villa Magdala.  It was beautiful.  Boyfriend and i had never stayed in a B&B anywhere before, so i think this one has spoiled us for B&Bs from now on.  I doubt any B&B anywhere can be as great as this one was...

The Villa Magdala in Bath, England (from the front)

The Villa Magdala in Bath (entry is on the side)

Our Room (en-suite)

Double bed in our room

The Breakfast Room at the Villa Magdala B&B

 Once we got settled into our rooms, we went strolling around the beautiful town of Bath.  We settled on supper at the Sally Lunn, the oldest recorded house in Bath.  It's a quaint little place with multiple floors and delicious food. 

The Sally Lunn House (Restaurant)

The Sally Lunn House, circa 1482

After supper, we took a leisurely stroll back through town to our B&B for a very restful night.

Join me again tomorrow for Day Four...

=-)



Day Two: North Wales, South along the coast, to Carmarthen, Wales

W drove our rental car, 'cause he's had experience driving on the "wrong side" many times before, so we "elected" him as driver.  He elected Boyfriend as the Navigator, so C and i rode in the back, which was just fine by us.



We left Manchester in the morning and drove along the north coast of Wales.  Talk about beautiful countryside!  We drove through Rhyl, Colwyn  Bay, and a resort area called Llandudno where we drove out onto a huge peninsula called The Great Orme.  (I believe it was a national park.)

Llandudno from the Great Orme

After driving all around the Great Orme, we drove south, down the west coast of Wales, through small towns like Betws-y-Coed, Dolgellau, and Aberystwyth, ending up in the small town of Cardigan, where we drove to an even smaller town called Gwbert (goo-bert) to spend the night at the Cliff hotel.

"Flats" in Cardigan (i think!)

Our room at the Cliff Hotel

After a delightful supper and a drink at the pub in the Cliff, we went to bed to ready ourselves for the next day.  Though we didn't really see any sun this day, we did not see any rain either, so once again, a wonderful day was had by all.  =-)

Tomorrow... Carmarthen!  And Bath!

Did I Hear Somebody Say England!?!

Man-oh-man it's been a long time since i posted!  Part of that is because i started putting my thoughts into a Word document on my computer.  It's been helpful, but it hasn't "encouraged" me to blog!  Sorry 'bout that!
I haven't been doing much quilting lately anyway, so there hasn't really been much to blog about...

But remember one time i told you that Boyfriend was taking me to England?!
Well, guess what?!?!

I have pictures!
Actually, we took over seven HUNDRED pictures, but don't worry; i won't bore you with ALL of them.   =-)

When i say "we" went to England, i really mean the four of us; our next door neighbors were our "tour guides" because they've been to England like six times before, so we felt "safe" going with them.  (Boyfriend's a little coughscaredcough to travel out of our country... BUT YOU DIDN'T HEAR THAT FROM ME!!!)

We flew out of Charlotte, NC on Oct 13th and did a quick layover in Philly, and then flew into Manchester, England (arriving on the 14th).  We really went there to see a friend who works at our favorite spot, The Wine Room.  (Who knew?!  =-)  )  Her name's Sarah, and she's spending one semester studying abroad, lucky little devil.

We spent one night in Manchester, and then hit the road in a rented car.  We drove across the north coast of Wales, and almost all the way down the west coast to a town called Cardigan where we spent the night in a tiny town called Gwbert (goo'-bert).  One night there, and then we went to Carmarthen, Wales to meet up with another friend from the Wine Room, Kelly, who is ALSO studying abroad for the semester.  (I'm thinkin' i didn't do something right when i was younger... Hmm.) 
One short day there (we didn't really get to see much of Carmarthen), and then we headed back across the Severn river into England, where we drove straight to Gatwick airport to turn in the car, and hopped on the train into London.

Oh my god, LONDON!!!  I absolutely LOVED London!!!  The architecture, the history, the cultures, the Tube, the red double-decker buses... I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT LONDON!!! 

We stayed in London until the 25th.  We were supposed to go to Paris, but with all the rioting and striking and craziness going on over there, we decided to just stay in London.  And i'm GLAD we did!!!  I didn't really "miss" Paris 'cause i am SO IN LOVE with LONDON!!!

People keep asking me what my favorite thing about my trip was and, honestly, i can only say

THE ENTIRE THING!!!

I loved it ALL!!!
(Well, "all" except that looong and boring plane ride there and back, that is!)
We had an absolutely FABULOUS time!!!
Even the weather was wonderful!  I fully expected, before i left, that i would get wet every day; that my feet would be soaked at the end of every day.  I expected it so i (hopefully) wouldn't be disappointed every day, but...
It never really rained on us!  We had cloudy weather in Manchester and most of Wales, and even saw the sun on many days in London, but... it never *really* rained on us!  (I'm not counting that one time it started to lightly sprinkle a tiny bit and we popped into a Cafe Nero for a coffee, and by the time we came out, the streets were almost dry.)  I could NOT believe it!  I am STILL tickled (in case you couldn't tell)!
Anyway...
Here's a picture to get you started:

Manchester at night from the 23rd floor of the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel (we did not stay here, only came for a drink... or two.  And the VIEW!!!)

... more tomorrow ...

=-)